The MAB Program United States of America
Biosphere Reserve Information - General Description
Niwot Ridge
General Description
Niwot Ridge is located 65 km north-west of Denver in
north-central Colorado. Habitats include western spruce-fir forest, lodgepole
pine (Pinus contorta) subalpine forest, riparian corridors, and alpine meadows..
The site is little influenced by direct human impact and is thus an excellent
site to monitor biological, chemical, and physical responses to changes in
atmospheric chemistry and climate. The biosphere reserve is administered
cooperatively by the U.S. Forest Service and the University of Colorado for
experimental and long-term of the surrounding environments.
A mountain research station facilitates research from atmospheric chemistry to
alpine and sub-alpine ecology. Niwot Ridge is the site of one of the National
Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites, and has been
used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for
atmospheric trace gas sampling since 1968.
One of the main research and conservation agendas focuses on the substantial
increases in nitrogen deposition that has occurred during the past three decades
, particularly its affect on biological processes in alpine tundra and
surrounding catchment areas. Educational programs in the biosphere reserve focus
primarily on the university level, but also include K-12 and the general public.
Last updated: 08/11/2005